Al Horford to Play More Power Forward Next Season

The Hawks’ All-Star (and undersized) center will be shifting to his more natural position a bit more, according to his new coach. The AJC reports: “When Hawks beat writer Michael Cunningham caught up with Al, this is what popped out of his mouth, presumably in response to a question: ‘I’m fine with [center] but my natural position is obviously the four,’ he said. Cunnginham bumped into ‘The Boss’ again later, and this time a little bit more perspective leaked out: ‘We need to get another big guy, another center, that’s able to help myself and Josh out,’ he said. ‘We need to have someone to come in and have an impact. I think that is the position we need if we want to be any type of contender in the East….I don’t have a problem splitting time [at center], [ Al said]. I played a little four last year with Zaza in the game at the same time and I thought that was good. I know I am going to still play the five….I think we create a lot of problems when have an athletic lineup with Josh at the four, me at the five and Marvin at the three, [ Al said ] I think we create serious problems for people. I think that is one of our strengths as a team is we are so versatile.’ The latest snippet, provided by avid Hawks fans Drmaryb and Astro Joe reveals a tad more perhaps, or not, depending on how you look at it: ‘That’s what I’ve been all my life,’ Horford said about the proposed shift toward PF.’”